From this post on, spoilers for Darker Than Black 2's ending and its specials may follow.

Mister V wrote:

Yegads, doesn't Gemini look like a spinoff after this.

That's what I've been saying all along, but I guess it was too hard to comprehend that and expect it to be like the original.
Upon checking the official website and using my super translating tool I found the name "Gaiden", so I suppose that's the OVA's official name; will use that for now.
spoiler[Either way, the episode was excellent. A lot of contractors shown in just an episode, something Darker Than Black only achieved a few times during season 1. It wasn't so bad to see Yin and Hei having a honeymoon, even if it was a fake one. Man, didn't Yin become more human-like, ey? As I thought she's evolving, and gaining powers that surpasses a contractor's. Apparently during this special the Syndicate is still up and running, and their aim seem to be Yin's evolution and perhaps Hei's death. Perhaps not Hei's death since it was mentioned that he's partly responsible for Yin's evolution. It was good too see Amber again, although it wasn't her. I'm down, because the contractor who showed Amber's illusion is a male. I'm also not sure about what's happening with Yin, but perhaps if I gather a few facts from season 2 and this special I could come to the conclusion that Yin is somehow splitting into two beings, while one could be herself and the other her observer spirit, or perhaps one could be her evil side and the other her good side(yin and yang came to mind, and could it be that her name is actually related to it?). ]

Well, for now these are my thoughts. Still really glad to see spoiler[Amber's] image again, and seeing spoiler[Yin] like that was an outstanding treat.
DVD 4 containing the second special will be released on March 24 in Japan. Not sure if this is the right one, but just based on a few facts.

I have no idea. I thought about adding it, but I've been feeling so lazy lately, so basically don't count on me for anything till summer comes around. Until then think of me as you'd think of a hibernating bear.

First of all, the OVA is wicked sick (not only because of the action, but also because we finally get to see a contractor with the remuneration everybody's been thinking about, even though the end is not pretty). I cannot fathom a reason why this wouldn't go into third season (or second, if we count Gemini as spinoff). I'd wager it's pretty popular and sells well, and seems to be BONES' current flagship series anyway.

Now, onto the plot... this episode in true DtB fashion leaves more questions than answers. Or more precisely, "what?.. who are?.. what the hell is going on?" Fortunately, as I said, it's still on par with the first season, so it's highly enjoyable. Maybe not "on par" - it's more like another season's worth of story compressed into these OVAs.

Thus I can only speculate... between spoiler tags, I guess.

spoiler[That time when Yin is meets the golden spectre in what looks like the center of Tokyo is, I believe, set during the timeframe of the last episode of season 1, she must have been waiting for Hei there. One can only assume a connection between that, and the two entities which we saw at the end of Gemini. This second Yin must be an outside influence. Could it be the side-effect of her interacting with Hei, who does have his sister's all-powerful spirit, or whatever we should call it? That would explain both the fact that he'd been blaming himself for what happened to her, and (in a way) the merge - or whatever it was that happened at the end of Ryousei no Gemini.

I swear, if the franchise continues on in this way, we're going to get ourselves an ending that rivals Bollywood. Yin's second spirit, undoubtedly, is the spirit of Amber she sent back into the future after she split, and one half of herself aged backwards. But lo! Amber is in fact Hei's sister who went forward in time and arranged this creation of this other self with the help of Shion Pavlichenko. Yin's entities begin multiplying in a geometric progression, becoming in fact the stars in the sky that are linked to Contractors (naturally, after being sent backwards in time), and the explosion in the beginning that created the first Gate was in fact the plot succumbing to an uncontrolled chain reaction and blowing up. Hell, this makes me want to use the Chewbacca defense... Ok, I'll stop rambling, but I hope I got the point across. I'd prefer an elegant solution to all of this.
]

I wonder what part of what is an assumption, what part of whatnot is an assumption, what part of whatnot isn't an assumption, or what part of what isn't an assumption.

I can't do much but only assume at this point.

That aside, episode 2 was excellent! We got to see a evil Yin(and man was that cool or what). At this point I'm hoping she's not actually evil, and that she actually loves Hei, too. My god, who doesn't love Hei, anyway? Even his enemies do, even if it's a twisted love(think about that Chinese guy).

I was wondering why that woman started spoiler[stripping], so at first I thought she was after sexual interaction(after all The Black Reaper is quite famous in the world of Contractors), but soon enough I realized it was her remuneration.

Even so, I was literally drooling over Yin for the whole episode. Actually, I didn't go that far, but almost.

Oh, dying to see a third season...

I don't care about solutions as long as they manage to keep stuff like this coming.

Would you say that the ending of Gemini was satisfying? To me it wasn't. That's why I stressed the importance of an elegant solution (like the conclusion of the first season).

Wasn't that elegant enough? spoiler[Suou went to a planet where she will lively happily. A happy ending, basically. That was conclusive enough as that's what season two was about: Suou.] What you were expecting will most likely(it's a "definitively", in my opinion) show up on season 3. Also, a re-watch of season two should be more enjoyable and understandable once we have seen Gaiden(or so, I expect, and am quite sure of).

Oh that part I have no complaints about, in fact, I liked the spoiler[creation of the world, etc.]. But the Yin-child-coffin-something really seemed like them bashing the audience over the head with a large, dusty pillow, and disappearing in the confusion. However, if we consider Gemini to be a sort or side-story about Suou, then yes, its ending is quite elegant.

I was a pretty big fan of Darker than Black, but rather disappointed with the 2nd season for reasons I won't bother going into now, but I think there's a decent chance the Gaiden episodes will fill some things in and maybe reduce some of my complaints about the 2nd season.

So, Gaiden 3 aka the Drama Episode. I actually did not realise the importance of spoiler[the baby scene, and then with Funny-Hair's explanation it suddenly hit me - oh right! they were not supposed to have emotions... woah.] BONES know how to get things right. Who would have ever imagined something like this seeing the original series. Oh, it's not groundbreaking, I'm just pleasantly surprised that they add a lot of variety to this. Not only that, but in their usual fashion, completely casually, they deliver another whamming revelation. Now this is quality.
I can only hope this is setting up a proper second season. Honestly, I haven't been intrigued by a world's story to this extent in a long time. Can't wait for July 21 for the exciting transition from Reaper to Bum.

Yeah, the scene where the couple is on the bench spoiler[and the woman is expressionlessly rocking the baby gently is equal parts touching and creepy. Then from one of later scenes she seemed to have died protecting the baby. ]

So, unless the fansubbers made a mistake on this (not very likely), spoiler[contractors are those who failed to become dolls.] Which, sincerely, is a bit hard to accept. If so, the criteria for becoming a spoiler[doll] is definitely not intelligence and other aspects surrounding this feature. I expect to get the answer next episode; if not I'll gladly wait until season 3.

Another thing... Yin didn't seem like an exceptional character in season 1, but right now she's definitely made it into my favorite female characters of all time.

Mister V wrote:

I actually did not realise the importance of the spoiler[baby scene, and then with Funny-Hair's explanation it suddenly hit me - oh right! they were not supposed to have emotions... woah.]

Same. Though I realized it rather quickly and in time to fully appreciate the scene. I thought it was quite funny, anyway, with their emotionless faces and holding aspoiler[ baby].

Wonder if the license is really expensive as it hasn't been licensed it.

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